Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Results tagged ‘ Zach Greinke ’

First, he said the Phillies “have examined and tried and have talked about acquiring significant players. Doing trades is tough. Outfielders. Pitchers. Starters. Relievers. We’ve done some things where we’ve tried to shoot for the moon. We’ve laid some groundwork on some of those, but the possibilities of that happening are kind of remote.”

The Phillies are not in the running for Cliff Lee, but several teams have been talking to the Royals about Zack Greinke. FOXSports.com reported five teams are seriously pursuing Greinke with three teams on the periphery. CSNPhilly.com said the Phillies have talked to the Royals about Greinke.

Second, the Phillies have reached an agreement with Dennys Reyes, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. A source said tonight Reyes has agreed to a $1.1 million deal with a $.135 million option for 2012.

The Phillies also remain interested in Chad Durbin. In fact, Durbin is in Florida and stopped into the hotel to personally meet with the Phillies and one other team.

And that right-handed bat the Phillies need? Giants general manager Brian Sabean said today “there’s nothing going between the Giants and the Phillies with Rowand.”

But the Phillies have had discussions about it. Rowand is owed $24 million over the next two seasons and the Giants would need to eat much of his salary for the Phillies to take him. Rowand played with the Phillies in 2006-07, and they believe he could bounce back offensively moving from cavernous AT&T Park to cozy Citizens Bank Park.

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The Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow morning. Amaro said there is a 50-50 chance they take somebody.

I’m just going to throw this out there because we’re all friends … Cliff Lee has been pretty good so far for the Phillies.

Let’s take a look at some numbers:

He is 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA in four starts.

He has allowed just 18 hits and six walks in 33 innings. He has struck out 34.

Opponents have hit .161 against him.

He has allowed 6.82 baserunners per game.

He has carried two no-hitters into the sixth inning.

He has two complete games.

He leads the Majors or shares the lead in wins, ERA, complete games, innings and strikeouts since he made his Phillies debut on July 31 in San Francisco. He is third in opponents average.

He is hitting .385 (5-for-13) with two doubles. That’s two more hits than he has allowed earned runs.

He threw 106 pitches in tonight’s 8-1 complete game victory over the Diamondbacks. Eighty-one were strikes.

He allowed just two hits and one unearned run against Arizona. He tied a career high 11 strikeouts.

He is 7-0 with a 1.09 ERA in seven starts since July 16, which include his final three starts with Cleveland.

He leads the Majors in wins, ERA, complete games (4) and innings (58) in that span. He is tied for fourth in opponents average (.193) and fifth in strikeouts (48).

He has five complete games this season, the first three coming with Cleveland. He is tied with Zach Greinke and Roy Halladay for the Major League lead.

“I don’t know how special it is,” Lee said afterward. “It’s me doing what I expect to do every time I go on the mound. Every inning I expect to go out there and put up a zero. Get that inning behind me, go out to the next inning and I expect to put up a zero. I’ve done that more times than not. Yeah, I’m pleased with it. I’m not too caught up in it. I’m not going to sit here and pat myself on the back. We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

“He’s a for real ace,” Jayson Werth said. “He’s that type of guy. He’s a shutdown guy. He can go out and control a game. Look what he’s done since he’s been here. That’s pretty remarkable. But that’s the kind of stuff he brings to table. You can’t expect a guy to do that every time out, but so far the stuff he’s offering is definitely different than what guys are used to seeing. At least it looks that way to me. You get a run on the board for a guy like that you’re in pretty good shape.”

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Ryan Howard is hitting .351 (13-for-37) with two doubles, one triple, five homers and 15 RBIs in his last 10 games. Werth is hitting .421 (8-for-19) with one double, four home runs and five RBIs in his last five games.

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